师说 | Sergios Theodoridis教授：引导学生多多探索和相信自己

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从爱琴海之滨远道而来的自适应信号处理、通信与模式识别专家Sergios Theodoridis教授在港中大（深圳）开始新的探索。学术成就享誉世界的他不再关心自己还能发多少篇论文，因为于他而言，从事科研更多是为了满足自己的好奇心。

在新冠肺炎疫情爆发期间，身处希腊的Theodoridis教授通过录制课程并开设在线答疑课堂的方式为港中大（深圳）的同学们授业解惑。除了传授知识，Theodoridis教授更希望能引导学生发现自己的才能，倾听自己内心的声音，挖掘更好的自己，相信自己。

教授简介

Sergios Theodoridis教授

自适应信号处理、通信与模式识别专家

Sergios Theodoridis教授曾任希腊国家研究与技术委员会委员，现执教于雅典大学和香港中文大学（深圳）。

Sergios Theodoridis教授是《机器学习：贝叶斯和优化方法》一书的作者。该书在亚马逊和Elsevier上好评如潮，目前已出版第二版。其合著《模式识别》《模式识别导论：MATLAB方法》《信号处理和系统识别的高效算法》等同样蜚声海内外。

Professer Sergios Theodoridis once served as a member of the Greek National Council for Research and Technology and is now Professor at the University of Athens and Fractional Professor at CUHK-Shenzhen.

Sergios Theodoridis is the author of Machine Learning：A Bayesian and Optimization Approach, which has been favorably reviewed and highly rated by Amazon and Elsevier and is currently in its second edtion. He has also co-authored several influential books such as Pattern Recognition, Introduction to Pattern Recognition: A MATLAB Approach, and Efficient Algorithms for Signal Processing and System Identification.

五年前，Theodoridis教授在一场学术会议中遇到了香港中文大学（深圳）副校长罗智泉教授。交流中，罗智泉教授分享了港中大（深圳）目前的办学情况，以及其“面向全球招聘一流师资”的雄心壮志。Theodoridis教授说："我很了解罗教授和他的科研成果。他是世界上最顶尖的科学家之一。他邀请我参观了港中大（深圳），甚至还把我加入到他和其他同事交流的经管学院微信群。我对他们讨论的内容和研究都很熟悉了"。此外，Theodoridis教授也对中国的科研体系充满着好奇。在他眼里，深圳是中国的硅谷，而世界的未来将在此诞生。在来到深圳前，他对这座快速发展的城市充满着好奇和期待。Theodoridis教授说："我一直很仰慕源远流长的中华文明，我想了解更多的中国文化。我很期待在中国做研究，再加上罗教授的鼓励和我自己对于中国文化的仰慕，我最终下定决心来到港中大（深圳）。”

Theodoridis教授表示，香港中文大学（深圳）的教学质量非常高，班里前10%到15%的学生都是非常优秀的学生，而且学生对教授非常尊重，“这是一种积极而自然的尊重，学生们都很好学。这一点很特别，和欧洲的情况有些不同”。

2020年春季学期，Theodoridis教授进行线上教学

在新冠肺炎疫情爆发期间，Theodoridis教授身处希腊，课程时间是希腊当地时间的凌晨三点。因此，他通过提前录制课程再上传到BlackBoard上供学生观看的方式授课。此外，Theodoridis教授每周还会多上一堂答疑课，回答同学们的问题。这种教学方式让他开始思考技术对学习的帮助。他提到：“学生们可以暂停、倒退讲课视频，以确保抓住所有的重点讲解。” 正因如此，Theodoridis教授正在考虑在生活恢复常态化后是否继续采用这种教学方式，并辅以小班化的答疑教学。

现在的Theodoridis教授，早已不再关心自己到底已经发表了多少篇论文。对他而言，科研是为了满足自己的好奇心，回答自己给自己提出的问题。Theodoridis教授认为事业再有成，他也不会停止研究的脚步。此外，他认为后辈和学生们的成就要比自己的成就更加重要。他曾提到，我们与之共同奋斗的是人，不是机器人。他还说：“指导学生的时候，我会更关心他们的心理状态。他们的大脑都是很聪明的，而我的职责是在他们情绪低落的时候，激励和支持他们”。

2019 年课程结课后，Theodoridis教授与学生合影

当问及给学生的建议时，Theodoridis教授说："多多探索和相信自己"。Theodoridis 教授承认在生活中，每个人多多少少都会做出让步，比如服从于社会的约束和 "欲望"。但同时，他也鼓励学生们去探索自己喜欢和认为很重要的事物。他坚定地说道："探索自己是一个学习的过程。你要发现自己的才能，倾听自己的内心，越来越了解自己。古希腊哲学家苏格拉底曾说过：‘认识你自己’。认识自己需要做足"功课 "和坚持不懈，而社会往往并不能帮助你做到这一点"。他认为，同学们要认同自己觉得有价值的东西，并努力去实现它。毕竟，人生最重要的是奔向目标的 "旅行"，而不是目标本身。Theodoridis 教授分享了自己刚开始做研究的体验，也常觉得自己还不够好。他说自己不是一个聪明的学生，没什么安全感，因此时常会问自己“我能行吗”。 然而，业精于勤，不断发掘和培养自己的才能，才有了今天的Theodoridis教授。

学生其实很容易辨别自己是否对研究感兴趣。Theodoridis教授说，如果学生还没有尝试过研究，那么都应该放手一试。尝试过后，学生们可以问一下自己：“是自己喜欢科研呢，还是只是在满足父母的要求呢？这是我的选择还是社会强迫我做的呢？” 在研究中遇到难题时，有些人会先缓一缓，择日再解决；而有些人会因苦于思考解决方案而彻夜难眠。而后者，便是真正喜欢研究的人。

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Five years ago, Prof. Zhi Quan Luo approached Prof. Theodoridis at an academic conference. From Prof. Luo, he learned about CUHK-Shenzhen and its remarkable goal to engage leading faculty members and researchers. “I know Prof. Luo and his research achievements very well. He is one of the top scientists world-wide. He invited me to come and visit CUHK-Shenzhen. He also invited me to join the WeChat group used by him and his coworkers from SSE. I was quite familiar with what they discussed and did for research.”Prof. Theodoridis recalls. He also expressed his interest in learning about the research system in China. He was excited about Shenzhen as the Silicon Valley of China, where the future of the world is built. He added, “I always admired the Chinese civilization because of the extended length of its history. I wanted to learn more about Chinese culture. Being a friend of Prof. Luo, desiring a research experience in China, and my admiration of the Chinese culture encouraged me to finalize my decision to come to CUHK-Shenzhen.”

Prof. Theodoridis thinks that teaching at CUHK-Shenzhen is excellent. In his classes, he finds that the top 10 to 15 percent of the students are exceptionally outstanding. He was impressed with how respectful students here are towards Professors. He explained，“It is a respect in a positive and natural way that the students are eager to learn. This is special and a bit different than in Europe.”During the coronavirus outbreak, Prof. Theodoridis is staying in Greece, and his actual teaching schedule was at 3 AM in his place. He records his lecture videos and uploads them to BlackBoard. Each week he conducts an extra Q&A session and receives more questions of good quality. He feels that technology has facilitated the learning process. “The students can pause and rewind the lecture videos to ensure that they catch all the essential explanations.”.When things get back to normal, Prof. Theodoridis might consider continuing teaching in this way by conducting smaller classes for Q&A.

Prof. Theodoridis is no more interested in “counting”the number of his publications For him, research is always about the curiosity to answer questions that he likes to pose to himself. Even though he has achieved the career that he wanted, he will not stop conducting research. On the other hand, he is more concerned about his younger colleagues and his studenes’ successes than his own. He emphasized that he is working with humans, not robots. He added, “When I supervise my students, what I care more about are their heart and soul. They are already good with their brains. My part is to motivate and support them when they feel down.”

When asked to give students some advice, Prof. Theodoridis remarked, “discover and believe more in yourself.” Every now and then in life, everyone has to make concessions. For example, we have to follow the regulations and the “demands” of the society. Prof. Theodoridis acknowledges this. In the meantime, he encourages students to discover what they like and he believes it essential for them. He further adds, “discovering yourself is a learning process, to listen to your talent, soul, and know yourself more and more. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said: Know yourself. This needs “homework” and perseverance that the society, often, does not help you to achieve”. However, the students should believe in what it is of value to them and make an effort to achieve it. After all, what is most important in life is the “trip” towards the goal and not so much the goal itself. When Prof. Theodoridis started as a researcher, he felt that he was not good enough. He said he was not a bright pupil. He felt somewhat insecure and often asked himself the question, “Will I be able to do this?” However, by putting much effort into discovering and building up his skill set, he gradually became who he is today.

Luckily, according to Prof. Theodoridis, it is easy for students to identify whether they are interested in research. He suggested that if a student has not tried research, then he or she should give it a try. Students can then try to answer these questions: Do I like it or I do it because my parents said so?  Is this my choice or does the society forced me to do this?  Finally, when they encounter any of the problems in research, do they often take breaks and leave them for another time? Or do they find it hard to sleep because they keep thinking about ways to solve the problems?  If your answer is the latter, then you like research.  

Theodoridis教授讲解深度神经网络

THE  END

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部分图片由理工学院提供

撰稿：Brandon（2018级理工学院、学勤书院）

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